Page 32 of Dream (Fighting Fate)

The room hushed as they all turned to look at me. I tried to swallow, but my throat was suddenly dry. Josh glanced at Corey, who gently shook his head, then he looked back at the new guys.

“Sorry, guys,” he said, although I could hear the laughter in his voice that told me he wasn’t very sorry at all.

One of the guys with dark, almost black, hair raised his eyebrows with disbelief.

“Bullshit.”

This came from one with light brown hair.

Josh shrugged. Suddenly, I was ready to make myself scarce. Pushing myself to my feet, I turned to Josh. “Um . . . all this secret guy code talk is making me feel blonder than I really am. I think I might leave you all to it.”

Josh immediately came to put his arm around me. “I’m sorry. I guess we weren’t as subtle as we thought we were. Don’t go. I was just trying to gently let the guys know that you wouldn’t have heard of their band before, so it wouldn’t hurt their egos.”

The dark-haired guy laughed. “You really haven’t heard of us?” he asked.

I threw my hands up with exasperation. “Maybe if you tell me who you are, I might be able to tell you.”

The guy with the light brown hair raised his eyebrow with amusement, and the dark-haired one laughed again.

Josh squeezed my waist. “Their band’s called Fighting Fate. I thought Corey spoke to you about it. Sorry.”

“Oh.” So that was why Corey had been asking me about them. “Yeah, he asked me if I’d heard of them, but he didn’t say they were here.”

I flashed him a look to tell him he could’ve been a little clearer.

“So, you haven’t heard of them?” Josh asked carefully.

I looked at the guys with an apology. “Sorry. My dad just grabbed whatever songs he thought the villagers would mostly like off iTunes. I never had the inclination to see what else might be there.”

The dark-haired one grinned and stepped forward. “No need to apologize. I’m Jace.”

I took his outstretched hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Olivia.”

“Nice to meet you, Olivia,” he said, before striding over to Corey and clapping him on the back.

The other guys moved forward then, and Josh introduced them as Dean, Matt, and Aiden.

They all settled on the couch and started talking animatedly. It was interesting to watch, actually. They seemed to have this amazing rapport with each other. All of them. I kind of felt like I was intruding a little.

“So where are you from, Olivia?”

I turned to see the lighter-haired guy—I think Josh said his name was Dean—looking at me intently. He had the most amazing green eyes. “Uh . . . I grew up in Salt Creek Beach,” I said quietly, not wanting to interrupt the other conversations.

“I haven’t been down there. Is it nice?”

“It was. I hope it still is. I haven’t been there for six years. Are you from Sacramento too?” I asked, already knowing if he was one of Josh’s childhood friends then he definitely would be.

“Yeah, we’re all Sac boys.”

“I think it’s great that all you guys are still so close. It must be nice to know you’re all there for each other.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

“So, you kind of looked surprised that I hadn’t heard of your band before. Are you really that well known?”

Dean looked sheepish all of a sudden. He started rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Josh leaned closer to me and spoke softly in my ear. “Yes. They are.”

Dean laughed softly and I blushed, realizing I’d just embarrassed him. “Oh, sorry.” I bit my lip. I knew I shouldn’t ask, but I was curious. “So, when you say you’re well known, do you mean your music, or do people actually recognize you wherever you go?”

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